


Hail Mary

by rap_ture



Category: Everyman HYBRID, Slender Man Mythos
Genre: Angst, Fluff, it does get a bit sad though, mentions of the rake, this is basically just my headcanons of steph and her friendships all smushed into this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-03
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:22:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,572
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23979676
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rap_ture/pseuds/rap_ture
Summary: It doesn't take a genius to point out the obvious — the obvious being that Damsel is not a people-person. She's as introverted as it can get. At least with Jessa she didn't have to worry about her more reserved nature because that was the only friend she had and Jessa's friends never randomly visited her, thank God. Evan, however, was a different story. Living with him, she has learned a few things, but the most important thing (maybe important was stretching it a bit) was that Evan has many friends.
Relationships: Alex & Stephanie (Everyman HYBRID), Jeff & Stephanie (Everyman HYBRID), Vinny & Stephanie (Everyman HYBRID)
Kudos: 18





	Hail Mary

**Author's Note:**

> hello all i post is just fics about stephanie because she is CRIMINALLY underrated. anyways if anybody has any prompts they wanna send my way then perhaps go ham

It doesn't take a genius to point out the obvious — the obvious being that Damsel is _not_ a people-person. She's as introverted as it can get. At least with Jessa she didn't have to worry about her more reserved nature because that was the only friend she had and Jessa's friends never randomly visited her, thank God. Evan, however, was a different story. Living with him, she has learned a few things, but the most important thing (maybe important was stretching it a bit) was that Evan has many friends.   
  
Friends that'd sometimes visit him completely unplanned and unprepared — and it's not a bad thing, she was happy that Evan had friends that checked up on him to make sure he was still alive (she assumed that contact with others was pretty limited due to the certain events transpiring) but it still made her feel generally uneasy for the rest of the day. It's the paranoia speaking — what if that really _isn't_ Evan's friend but they're possessed and trying to spy on him for the no-face man? That all of the memories Evan experienced between them were fake? What if —  
  
_No._ That's not the case.   
  
Back to the point, it took a bit for Damsel to accustom herself to Jeff and Vinny. Jeff and Damsel's interactions at first were painfully awkward and distant (after all, he did send her off to that hospital, which inevitably led to her coming clean about her past), while Vinny had tried his hardest to make Damsel feel more welcomed in their group. She did appreciate that, he'd go out of his way sometimes, but sometimes being included in things when you just _wanted_ to be left alone was not-so-great. No matter, she grew into them eventually.  
  
Hilariously enough, she ended up striking a friendship up between Alex, Jeff's little brother, before getting comfortable enough with Jeff to consider him a friend. Alex thought it was funny and it took a bit before she could understand the humor behind it, but nowadays it was always difficult to find _anything_ funny. Alex was a good friend. He did a lot of talking, which amazed Damsel, but she always listened as intently as possible. He'd tell her stories about his parents, about his school, friends, he'd show off his bass and play songs for her, she'd teach him some drawing techniques — he didn't draw much but he was interested, in a little bit. But only because he wanted to draw something for Jeff.   
  
Sometimes Alex would talk about the rabid animal that'd sit and scratch the walls in his closet, destroy his room, sometimes even attack him — she'd gotten the feeling that he told her more than he told anybody else, just because he _needed_ to tell somebody about it. She could understand that, she was the same way. Her heart hurt for him; how he lost his parents, how his life is practically ruined, and there is nothing nobody could do about it. She'd gotten the impression that he wanted to act like everything was fine, despite it being the exact opposite, and _that_ was something she understood so sharply, it felt like a knife when she recognized how he acted. It was like seeing her younger self in him. The harsher side of her wanted to snap her fingers in his face and tell him to wake up, _nothing's okay._ But the softer, more maternal side just wanted to leave how he acted alone and just try and make him as happy as she could everyday.  
  
Her friendship with Vinny didn't bloom as fast as hers with Alex but it wasn't a bad thing. Just the paranoia speaking. He was _very_ friendly, something she noted from the very beginning of her time with them — he'd sit with her and ask her a lot of questions, but not about her past or whatnot — just harmless questions she supposed were to help make her feel comfortable around them. What's your favorite movie? What's your favorite band? Why? What's your favorite season? Who's your favorite slasher? It was pretty annoying at first, especially because sometimes Jeff would just sit there and watch her real closely for her answers — not in a mean type of look, but a more analytical and playful (a combination one would not think is possible but he definitely owned a look like that) — which made her get nervous time to time.   
  
Vinny didn't talk as much as Alex, nobody could, but he'd often throw his own commentary when talking about her answers and their conversations would either end up them debating hotly about the topic they were in, or it'd just simply stay as commentary. Usually their debates focused on horror films — Damsel was a firm believer in Ghostface being one of the greatest slashers while Vinny was deadset on Leatherface, and they absolutely refused to change their beliefs on that. It had gotten to the point that the two of them begun drawing or including, whenever the other wasn't in the room, mini slashers on whatever they owned. Damsel's phone screen background mysteriously became Leatherface. Vinny's pillow had a picture of Ghostface taped on it. Stupid things like that.   
  
Jeff and Damsel's friendship at first was very much strained. It was awkward. Usually Evan hung around them, animatedly talking about whatever was on his mind, so Jeff and Damsel really didn't get the chance to be able to warm up to each-other. And the times they were left alone, usually Damsel focused on something to busy herself so their interaction wouldn't get anymore painfully awkward. It remained that way for a bit — and it didn't take until Jeff finally speaking up during one of the infamously awkward moments between them, Damsel had stopped counting how many times it's happened between them.  
  
"I did tell you I was really sorry, right? Because I am —"  
  
"Oh no no, it's okay, I know. I get it." And she did understand his perspective — and it was just hard for her to be mad at him. And she tried — _God_ , she tried. He put her right back in a space that didn't help her mental health, in fact, nearly worsened it; how could he do that? But she knew he was hurting so badly on the inside from the disappearance of Jessa — and deeper down, she knew it was more than disappearance. And she wish she could take that away from him — it hurts seeing people in pain, whether physical or emotional. She relates to him so much more than he assumes; they both lost someone so close. Why go against each other? Mourn together. "I _really_ do, Jeff. I'm not mad at you."  
  
"I just — I don't want to sit here and feel like this everytime I try and hang around you. You were her best friend too, you're also — I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."   
  
Damsel nodded slowly but remained quiet, just keeping her eyes on him. She could tell, even without knowing him well enough, that this shit was seriously weighing him down. "If I was more of a hugger, I'd be giving you one right now, but —" She paused to laugh a bit awkwardly, watching Jeff grin for a second. "— alas, I'm not. But . . . I get it. I really do. Y'know, it's better off just not feuding. We don't even have to be friends if you don't want to, but just — _yeah._ "   
  
"No no, I want to be friends witn you, don't get me wrong. I've just felt really really bad about all of this shit." And he held a hand out towards her, to which she stared at it simply and then, tentatively, she dropped her hand on top of his. Simultaneously the two of them squeezed their hands hard, for comfort. It took all of Damsel's willpower to not burst into tears.   
  
"It's okay. It'll be okay," and, lying through her teeth — it wouldn't be the last time either — she continued speaking, "We'll find her. She's not gone. She'll be back in no time. Maybe the rest of us and her can go walking around the parks."   
  
Jeff's jaw tightened. Now she could notice he was going to cry too. The last thing she wanted to do was sit here and just watch him cry — but obviously, he needed some sort of comfort. And she knew he'd give her comfort too.   
  
"We can even bring _Evan._ " Jeff added after a second and the way he said it made her crack a grin.   
  
"What, was he not allowed to come along before?"  
  
"Only if we bring one of those dog leashes. A _really_ short one."  
  
Damsel started giggling quietly, using her free hand ti pinch the top of Jeff's. He started laughing too; it was genuine, thankfully. "Hold on, a leash? I don't know if I'm into that."  
  
Jeff then grabbed the nearest pillow and slung it at her face hard enough that her glasses flew right off — and she wasn't mad either (even though glasses are _stupidly_ expensive) — in fact, she started laughing louder, almost like a cackle, which only prompted Jeff to get worse.   
  
"Without a leash, he uh, he tends to bark at strangers a lot. It's bad shit. He can be vicious."   
  
" _Oh my God, Jeff_ —"   
  
The two of them continued laughing hysterically over the mental image of Evan acting like a dog and for a while, everything became okay.


End file.
